


Everything Happens For a Reason, Right?

by akirepity



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst and Feels, Gen, My First AO3 Post, Sadness, Trying to be as realistic as possible
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:15:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24460417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akirepity/pseuds/akirepity
Summary: Adrien suffers a great loss in his life, and he journeys through heartbreak and sorrow, struggling to find acceptance.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	1. Loss

The message sat there, unopened, sent at 8:07pm, but the first part was visible: “I'm sorry, Marinette died today,she was in an acci-”. He dropped his phone, and his breathing slowed. His vision blurred, and he took a few steps back. He sunk to the ground, his hands on his head. Tears flowed down his face. It had all happened so fast. Just one week ago, he had been having the time of his life. He and Marinette had been dating for a week, and he’d defeated Hawkmoth with Ladybug. This can’t be happening. This isn’t real. No. No. No. This can’t be real. This is a dream; this must be a dream. No. No. NO! He lowered his head and hit the floor with his fist. With every hit, more tears flowed down, and soon his fist was bloody. Nathalie opened the door and put her hand to her mouth. “Get out.” Adrien said, his voice cracking, “Adrien, w-” “GET OUT!” He yelled, standing up. He walked to the door, “Adrien, calm down, what’s wr-” He shut the door and locked it, despite Nathalie’s protests. With tears still streaming down his face, “Plagg, claws out.” He ran to his window, unlocked it, and used his staff to travel to the building across from him. On the roof, he tried to survey the area, his vision blurry and the sounds of Paris disturbing his ability to think. Nearly screaming in frustration, he just ran forward to the roof in front of him. And then the next, and the next, and soon, he was far from his home. The roof he was on was in terrible shape, he figured it was a cheap apartment. He was exhausted, and he curled up, and cried himself to sleep.

He awoke at night, and he felt miserable. His head felt like somebody was shooting cannons in his skull. Remembering the previous night, the tears flowed down again, and he resisted the urge to scream. His thoughts were racing through his head and tried to calm down. He tried to tell what time it was but gave up and just curled up into a ball. His stomach rumbled in hunger; I might as well starve to death. There’s no point in living anymore. But that will take too long. God, what is happening to me? Chat sat up and decided to wipe away his tears and get something to eat. He extended his staff to the ground and slid down. He looked around for a restaurant or a pharmacy to get some snacks. He found a McDonald’s and extended his staff to the roof of the building across it to wait for the restaurant to empty to get some food. It was a small one, but it still had people inside. As cars honked and sped by, he was getting impatient. If I don’t think about her, she can’t affect me, so don’t think. Get the food and get out of here. Chat waited for a single person to leave the establishment, adrenaline flowing through his body.

A twenty-something year old looked around before walking down the street, his back to Chat, a McDonald’s bag in his hand. Getting an idea, Chat stalked him until he was completely alone, waiting for the perfect moment as he silently jumping roof to roof. The man’s home was an apartment building about ten blocks away from the McDonald’s. Chat jumped down, hoping that the sounds of the bustling city would silence the sound. The didn’t seem to notice as he seemed to misplace his keys and was digging around his pocket, leaving the food next to him, on the second of a three-step staircase. Chat made his way around the man until the man’s back was facing him. Then, with light steps, he snuck up behind the man, holding a hand to his bell to keep it from ringing. Then, with a swift movement, Chat took the bag, careful to not make it rustle as he slowly stepped back, headed for an alley behind him. Then, half hidden in the darkness of the alley, he tripped, and his bell rang several times. The man turned around, unsure of what he just heard. Locating his key, he turned back around to unlock the door to the apartment. He then turned his head to find his food gone. He looked around, but Chat had sunken into the darkness, and was waiting for a chance to scale the wall unnoticed. The man looked around for his food for a few minutes before giving up and entering his apartment.

Chat grinned as he scaled the wall, and when he got to the roof, he sat cross-legged and began to eat his meal. After finishing the stolen meal, he jumped back down and left the bag where he’d stolen it from, trying to contain his childish laughter. He climbed back up to a roof and looked at the night sky, nearly devoid of any stars, but it was a clear night, and the moon was half full. Sighing, he made his way to another rooftop that had more leg room and sat down once more. Wh _at did I just do? I’m not supposed to be stealing from people. I’m a hero, not a crook. What would Ladybug say about this? He ran his clawed hand through this hair, before jolting up in shock. Wait. Where is she? I must have missed her, it’s probably midnight. How long did I sleep for? Is it still Friday?_ _What time is it?_ Chat looked around for a close monument that had a clock but then remembered that his staff displayed the time. He clicked the button and the screen flicked up and checked the time. It was 11:02pm Friday, and his eyes started to water as he knew the events that had transcribed earlier. Trying to stop the tears that were flowing, he ran on the rooftop, going wherever, to do anything to keep her off his mind.

As rooftop after rooftop passed beneath his shoes, Chat tried to avoid any thinking, clearing his head. He stopped as he was above some sort of establishment and could smell food. Taking in the smell, he sat down and close his eyes, trying to think of the delicious meals being served. When he thought of the bread that they served, his mind went to Marinette, and he felt the tears build up again, he pulled his hair and hit himself, anything to make the pain go away. He felt her hand on his shoulder, and he started trembling, and he could hear her voice, and he tried to make it go away. Then, he heard something. He stood up and pricked his ears, hearing a scuffle. He used his night vision to better see within the dark spots of the area. He followed the scuffling sounds, and he picked up a shout. He started running in the direction of the shout, running on all fours to maximize speed. He then jumped down and spotted a small rat-like man holding a knife to a brunette woman’s throat as he was rummaging through her purse with his other hand as she held the purse up. Chat stalked towards the man, hand on his bell, though the woman spotted him, she said nothing, and the man continued to rummage through the purse. Chat then grabbed the man’s arms and pulled them back, tackling him and pinning him on the ground. The purse fell onto the floor, and the woman grabbed it, silently thanked Chat, and then ran away.

“What the hell? You bastard! All I wanted was her money, I wasn’t gonna hurt her, and if she didn’t have money, I would’ve just had a bit of fun with her, that’s all!”

The man squirmed under Chat’s weight, as he was considerably shorter. “You’re a sick man. Now you’re going to tell me your name, and your address, though since you seemed unexperienced, you shouldn’t live too far from here.” The man started to shout, but Chat silenced him by giving him a good whack on the head. “I’m not telling you anything. You can’t do anything to me. It would taint your little reputation; your little girlfriend wouldn’t be pleased if you seriously hurt me.” The man laughed, but Chat simply sighed, and leaned close to the man’s ear. “Cataclysm” He whispered, and lifted his right hand, now full of destructive power. The man nearly screamed, as the destructive power was mere centimeters away from him. “Okay! Okay! I’ll tell you! My name is Malin Poubelle, and I live just a couple blocks down the street from here, I’ll take you there, just don’t cataclysm me!” Chat got off the man, and he stood up slowly before running in the opposite direction. Chat sighed and chased after him, and the man didn’t get very far.

Chat held onto Malin’s shoulder, his claws cutting through the fabric in his jacket. “Now, no more games, or I’ll throw your ass in prison. I have a few friends in high places. It wouldn’t be hard to get you in. I heard inmates take kindly to muggers who prey on women.” Malin sweated heavily as he led Chat to an apartment building. Chat let go of Malin as he rummaged through his jacket looking for his keys. Once he located them, he unlocked the door. Suddenly, he whipped around with another knife, and tried to tackle Chat. Before he could think, Chat grabbed the man’s arm with his right hand. The knife clattered to the ground as Malin dropped the knife before the cataclysm could get to it. He turned into ashes in seconds, a mere pile on the ground; before Chat could even think twice. _Oh my god. Oh no, no, no, no. This can’t be real. No. I’m not a murderer. I-it was self-defense! He attacked me first, I, no, no._ His thoughts were culminating into one giant tsunami of guilt and regret. He bent over and picked up the ashes, holding them in his left fist. _If I killed him, I have to find his family and send them the ashes. I’m so stupid!_ He thought as he entered the apartment and took out the key. The key ring had around ten or so keys, and he looked for the key that would unlock the man’s room. There was a thick, dull bronze key with the number “5” on it. Setting down the key ring, he adjusted his hand so that he held the room key in his right. He heard his ring beep; he had only two minutes before he transformed back. He ran up the stairs, and counted down 5, and found the room.

He unlocked the door, and a bad smell filled the room. Despite his stomach’s protests, he entered the room anyway, and locked the door behind him, turning the light on. “Plagg, claws in.” He de-transformed, and Plagg flew out, landing on a small table full of more empty beer bottles. Before Plagg could complain, Adrien reached into his white jacket with his right hand and took out his emergency supply of cheese and Plagg took it from him, gobbling down the cheese. Adrien tried to look for a jar or something to contain the ashes in, and found a small jar that must’ve been for spices at some point, and poured them in. He made sure to get in as much as he could, before going to the sink and washing his hands. _At least the water works here_ , he thought, as he got off the remains of the man. _What have I done? What am I doing? I just put a man’s remains in a jar, and I just washed those same remains off my hands! And now I’ve taken his home. How am I supposed to live here? How am I supposed to pay his bills? My father has probably put up hundreds of posters of me. I’m lucky I left my phone behind, or else he could’ve tracked me in an instant._ Sitting down on the somewhat dirty couch, he tried to sort his emotions so that he could think. First, I’ll have to clean this place up, it’s a mess. Adrien stood up and walked to the kitchen to look for garbage bags and found a roll that only had four extra large bags left. He ripped one off the roll and started going around the small but smelly apartment, picking up garbage left on the floor and tables. Besides beer bottles, he found candy wrappers, cigarette butts, soda cans, and chip bags.

Cleaning the living room and connected kitchen in the three-room apartment alone took over an hour, an Adrien’s back was hurting as he heaved the bag to the door. The floor had seemed to not have been vacuumed since the building was built, and Adrien didn’t dare take off his shoes. “Man, this place is really messed up” Plagg said, looking at the bag. Then, he got an idea. “Hey Plagg, you can cataclysm anything you touch, right? Cataclysm this bag.” Plagg looked unsure, “Last time I cataclysmed something, I almost brought down an entire building. Not to mention it’s my fault the dinosaurs went extinct. Are you sure?” He nodded and stepped back as the kwami cataclymsed the garbage bag. The bag turned to dust in mere seconds, and Plagg jumped back to not accidentally destroy everything. All was left was a pile of dust no taller than a shot glass. Adrien searched for a broom, and he found one stuck in the bathroom, along with a dustpan. He swept up the ashes and threw it in the garbage can, done with the living room and kitchen.

The smell was less prevalent, but it was still strong. He entered the bathroom and found it relatively clean. The only issue he had was scrubbing the mold off the shower mat, and there were several spider webs nestled between all four corners of the small bathroom. He discovered that Malin had run out of bleach, and he groaned. He realized he was out of nearly everything: drain cleaner, freshening spray, extra toilet paper, and other essential bathroom items. He had to throw away the toothbrush, and he carefully extracted the soap bar from the shower, shoes still on, and threw it away too. He debated whether to throw away the plunger, but he didn’t know when he would get money anytime soon, so he decided to keep the plunger until he could get to a pharmacy. Exiting the bathroom, he opened the door into the only bedroom.

The sheets were a mess and looked like they hadn’t been washed since they were bought. The floor was littered with more garbage, and Adrien was getting tired. He figured it must’ve been at least 1 or 2am by now, but nonetheless, he grabbed another garbage bag and started picking trash up, including the bed sheets, blanket and pillow as he was not going to waste his time washing such filthy items. After he picked up all the trash, he carried the bag and left it at the door. The mattress was bare, but Adrien didn’t trust it, and flipped it over, not too difficult, since it was a twin mattress, but not easy either. He heard a thud, and something fell out of the cheaply made bedframe. Adrien picked it up to examine it. It was a brown, fat square wrapped in white string. Curious, he undid the knot and started unravelling the string, _Please don’t be weed,_ he prayed, as he kept unravelling the string.

After five minutes of unravelling, he thought it looked like some sort of wallet, and he got excited. After a few more minutes of this, he could finally open the wallet. In it, there was two hundred euros, enough to cover most of the supplies he needed. He pocketed the wallet in his jacket. Yawning, he removed his jacket and placed it on the mattress, and he walked to turn off the lights. He hesitated, but then gave up and lay on where his jacket was, trying not to touch the mattress. He kicked off his sneakers, and curled up as sleep claimed his tired body, preparing him for the next day. But, he coudln't rest, as thought swirled through his head. _God, what have I done? It's my fault a man is dead, and I have nobody anymore. I'm cut off from the world. Nobody cares about me, not like her. It's not fair. Why her? Why? Why now? I have nobody anymore. I can't show myself at school, I''ll be taken away, and cut off from society. Nino, Alya, everyone will think I'm dead. Maybe that's for the best. Chat Noir still has Ladybug. But where is she? Usually she texts my staff to check up on me if I don't show up for the nightly patrol. Something's wrong. I can feel it._ Adrien's eyes shot open, and he sighed, feeling horrible. A small nugget of his brain suggested the most earth shattering possibility. He pushed that tiny possibilty back into his brain, as the tears wouldn't stop flowing. He tried to ignore it, and tried to think of supplies to buy from a nearby pharmacy. _No, stop it! To ignore is to forget. You can't forget her._ He covered his face, stifling the sobbing. _I don't want to forget. It hurts too much. I can't do it. I CAN'T._ He pulled his hair, tufts of golden hair falling on his jacket and the mattress. He stared at the ceiling, watching the dark envelop him, but he just couldn't sleep. _Marinette died in an accident. But how? Was it a drunk driver? A miscalculation? No, it couldn't be a miscalculation. No. It was somebody's fault. I'm going to find that person, and I'm going to give them hell to pay. I'll avenge her. It wasn't her time. It's not fair. They took something I loved, so I'm going to take something they love. One way or another, they will suffer._ Adrien clenched his teeth as he scratched the matress in pure rage. He sat up quickly, but his burst of energy had faltered, and he was still exhausted. He looked at his palm and he stroked his face, imagining it wasMarinette, which helped him calm down. Soon, he fell asleep, his rage and grief surpressed, for now at least.


	2. Living Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien deals with living entirely by himself, both money-wise and danger-wise.

Adrien woke up with a start, and he saw it was past morning, and he got off the bare mattress, and he put on his shoes. He grabbed his jacket and decided to go shopping for supplies. Right, I must hide my identity. I can't just waltz in as Chat. I hope there are some clothes here that aren’t dirty. There was a wooden closet and Adrien opened it, hoping to find something indiscreet. He found an old hoodie and a pair of old sweatpants. He changed into the sweatpants and wore the hoodie, which were a few sizes too small. He picked up his jacket and took out the wallet and put it in his hoodie. He walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. He looked skinnier, but his hair was still styled. He mussed up his hair, giving him a bed-head look. He decided to hunch over a bit, and he hid his ears with his hair. _There, if I buy what I need quickly, nobody should be able to identify me._

“Plagg, you can hide in my hoodie’s pocket, next to the wallet.” “I’m not getting in there, who knows what’s been inside that thing! I want more cheese, when can we get more? You won’t be able to transform if I don’t eat cheese.” Plagg protested, Adrien groaned, took a deep breath. “I can get you cheap cheese, but that’s it. I can’t afford your usual cheeses anymore, not until I get a job.” Plagg, grumbling, flew into the hoodie’s pocket. Adrien then searched for the keys. Once he grabbed the keys, he moved the trash bag he’d placed near the door and Adrien realized he hadn’t locked the door. He exited the room, locking the door before he realized he needed to buy far more than what the 200 euros could cover.

Walking down the stairs, he unlocked the apartment’s front door and walked through, the fresh air blowing in his face. At least the sun is still in the sky, though the sun usually doesn’t set until around 9:50pm, so it could be any time between midday and 8pm. He walked in the still-busy Parisian street, searching for a pharmacy or a general store nearby. He turned right and continued walking. He found a pharmacy and luckily it was open. The pharmacy wasn’t very large, so him took no time at all to locate a toothbrush, toothpaste, a box of soap and three boxes of black hair dye, a few items off his long list. He placed the items on the checkout desk and pulled out the wallet as the cashier crunched the numbers.

“In total, that adds up to 17.55 euros, sir.” The cashier said, monotone. Adrien rummaged through the wallet and found a crumpled up 20-euro bill, handing it to the cashier. After processing the purchase, the cashier handed him his change and gave him a bag with the items inside. He took the bag, quickly turning to avoid eye contact. He exited the pharmacy and made his way back to the apartment. After entering the apartment complex, he unlocked his room and braced himself for the smell. He locked the door behind him. Plagg flew out of his pocket and rested on the newly cleaned table, yawning. Adrien set up his toothbrush, toothpaste, and bar of soap in the bathroom before reaching for a box of black hair dye. He opened the black hair dye and read the directions. Using the dye brush, he started dyeing from the root up, careful to not spill any on himself. I’ll have to leave the tips of the back of my head blond, I hope nobody can tell it’s me. After finishing the dyeing, he looked for a shower cap, finding one bundled up in the sink cabinet. He prayed it wasn’t filthy and put it on his head, careful not to leave out any stray strands of hair.

With nothing else to do, Adrien walked to the garbage bag and started sorting the trash so he could dump it in their respective bins. It was a tedious process, but after an hour, he managed to sort the trash into piles of “recyclables” “non-recyclables” and “waste”, with waste being the largest pile. He bagged up the pile of recyclables and waste, ready to take them downstairs once his hair was done processing the hair dye. Truly bored, he retreated to the bedroom, which had a tiny tv with the remote in one of the nightstands. He started flicking through the channels, as he could find nothing other than weird reality shows, news reports, and dumb kids’ shows. Eventually, he found a documentary channel and decided to let it play mindlessly until the dye processing was done. He sat on the mattress, facing the tv. _I have 182.45 euros left, and what I need to buy with that money are: towels, bedsheets or a blanket, a pillow, laundry detergent, a vacuum cleaner, a mop, bleach, air freshener, drain cleaner, dish soap, disinfectant, a bucket, a shower mat, and a plunger. I can’t afford all of these things, so I have to cut a couple things out. I don’t really need a vacuum, and I could do without bleach, and I already have a plunger, I just don’t trust it._ After twenty minutes of sorting through the list of necessities, he ended up with towels, blanket, pillow, air freshener, disinfectant, and laundry detergent.

Once again, Adrien found himself staring at the ceiling as his thoughs drifted through his mind. Then, the small nugget in his brain had reminded him. He then realized he hadn’t seen or heard Ladybug once today, not even the faint hiss of her retractable yo-yo as she swung around Paris. He then remembered his rage, and it bubbled inside of him as he thought of what he would do to Marinette’s killer. He clenched his fist, and angry tears flowed, but as soon as the rage appeared, it disappeared, replacing rage with sadness, and Adrien tried to fight against the flow of memories he had with Marinette, all those years of playful flirting and occasional embarrassing moments. He held his head in his hands, and ripped off the shower cap. He groaned as the what ifs and what could’ve beens stormed his mind and senses, like a sandstorm in his face.

He tried suppressing his emotions, thinking, anything to get away, but each attempt was futile. Everything he occupied himself with something, it was just a short-lived distraction, just to get away. _I can’t. Enough. No. It’s not fair. Please let me think of something else, anything else. Just leave me alone. Please._ His emotions seemed deaf, and would not listen to him, only ravaging him more with sadness and regret and guilt, regret that he never could spend more time with her, guilt that he caused a man’s death, sadness that he’d never gotten to say goodbye to her. He closed his eyes and tried focusing as memories continued to flow through his mind. His tears just kept flowing, and he tried to stop them, stop them from flowing down his cheeks and onto the mattress, stop them from expressing what he felt, just to stop them. Clearing his head, he thought of nothing, and it worked, for a time. There was still a small but dense ball of emotion, resting on his chest, its weight affecting him severely, and no matter what he tried, he just couldn’t rid himself of it.

The sun then began to set. He looked out of the window, as the sun turned from golden to vermillion, filling the sky with beautiful colors. He stood up and wiped his tears and focused on the sunset, ignoring the huge weight on his chest, focusing on how the sun slowly sank as the sky darkened and revealed the stars. The weight still sat there, and he tried his best to rid himself of it. _I can’t stay here doing nothing. I’ll run around as Chat for as long as I can. Maybe stop some average criminals, I don’t know, something!_ His stomach rumbled so Adrien decided to grab a bite to eat. He walked the the kitchen and opened the fridge, finding some sort of cake that was wrapped up and taking it out. He then saw that the water cooler was empty, and he sighed. I’ll have to drink from the tap, where are the glasses? He opened the small kitchen cabinets and found a dusty glass. He rinsed it thoroughly with the tap water, and then served himself a glass. Bringing the wrapped up cake to the small wooden table, he then tried looking for utensils, but only found a few sets of plastic forks, knives, and spoons. Unwrapping one of the plastic packets, he took out a spoon and dug into the cake. After finishing his meal, he threw the plastic plate in the trash. He saw it was dark already, and he went to the bathroom to check his hair. The hair dye had settled in, and his hair was mostly black except for the tips at the back of his head. _Well, let’s get this over with. Once I get a hand mirror I’ll fully dye my hair black. I better go, the sooner I get out and do something the better, patrolling Paris is my best bet._

He exited the bathroom and checked his hands for any dye stains, there were a few on his palms, but other than that, there was nothing too noticeable. Plagg, knowing what was about to happen next, followed Adrien as he walked to the window and attempted to open it. The window opened with a bit of resistance but was otherwise fine. I can’t just transform inside and walk out of the apartment, though this building is one of the darker areas of Paris, I could probably get away with transforming as Chat here and there’d be little chance of people spotting me.. He breathed in and breathed out, “Plagg, claws out.” He then jumped out the window and landed on the Parisian pavement, which was dark as the lights hadn’t turned on for the night yet. He checked the time on his staff, and it was 9:34pm, Saturday. He extended his staff upward to perch on the rooftop to overlook the city. It’s nine already? I must’ve woken up at around seven or eight, and if I fell asleep at around four or three am, then I’ve been asleep for around seventeen hours. Chat winced at the thought but decided to start patrolling before he could dwell on other things. The streetlights then turned on, eliminating any chance of stealth on the ground.

This time I’ll go left, maybe there’s a supermarket nearby. I could really use some food right now. He ran on the apartment rooftops, the wind brushing his now black hair. A couple of apartment buildings later, he found a general store across the street from the corner apartment he was on, luckily still open. _I need to detransform somewhere, but where? Right now, it’s prime time for tourists to eat in restaurants, so I have to be careful._ Chat surveyed the area, looking for a suitable spot. There were no alleys in sight, and there was no suitable cover. He supposed he could detransform in one of the subway bathrooms, but there was the problem of entering rather than exiting. He had no other option than to wait for the streets to empty or return tomorrow. He decided to wait for the foot traffic to lessen, sitting down and watching the people pass his building by. _I hope the store doesn’t close while I’m waiting, that wouldn’t be good It probably closes at 10:00pm, and right now,_ he looked at his staff, _It’s 9: 44pm. I only have 16 minutes left._ He waited a couple more minutes, and finally, people had stop walking by as often as they did. Chat jumped down, somewhat masked by his dark suit and now dark hair. Looking out for any passersby, he stalked to one of the dark spots the nightlamps couldn’t illuminate, which was the shadow behind one of the larger trees. He crouched, looked for cars, stray passersby, saw the near restaurant no longer had customers outside, and knew the customers at the store couldn't see him at this angle. He breathed in and detransformed, cloaked by the shadow of the tree. Adrien slowly exited from the cover of the tree and crossed the street to the store.

He entered the store and brought what he could buy to the counter, which were packets of cheap ramen, air freshener, some bleach, laundry detergent, cheese, and some baguettes. The cashier asked for 21.78 euros, and Adrien gave them one 20-euro bill and one 10-euro bill, and the cashier handed him back his change, and Adrien was on his way.

Adrien crossed the street, feeling the cool air blow in his face. _If I counted right, I have a quite a bit to walk to get back, let’s just get this over with._ As people passed him by, he noticed someone echoing his own steps. Is someone following me? Adrien then pretended to drop his change, and as he bent down he spotted someone standing a few meters too close for comfort, who was trying to look at another direction. As he stood upright and began walking again, he passed his apartment and started making erratic turns. He kept his hands in his hoodie’s pocket, careful not to grab Plagg by accident, who was currently napping there.

As he made more and more turns and as the person still followed him, he got sick of waiting and whipped around to face them, but saw nobody. What? Where did he go? Adrien looked around for the person, who was nowhere in sight. Still cautious, he waited a bit to see if they would show up. But they never did, so Adrien started slowly making his way to his apartment, keeping his eyes peeled for any suspicious activity. _Maybe I’m just going crazy. But where are they? They just, disappeared. I don’t know if I should go to my apartment yet, but if I don’t, Plagg’s cheese will spoil._ Taking the risk, he started speeding up and finally got to his apartment, and he unlocked the door and went in. As he went up the stairs, he had a bad feeling in his stomach. He unlocked his room and found everything normal, and he put his bag on the table.

He put the cheese on the table and unwrapped it. Using one of the plastic knives, he cut off a few pieces and put one piece in his pocket where Plagg had woken up. He wrapped the other pieces in napkins, and put them in his front sweatpants pocket. Then, he opened the can of air freshener and started spraying the apartment, hoping the smell would finally leave. After spraying the whole apartment, he went to the room and grabbed as many clothes as he could and brought them to the washing machine. He separated colors from whites, and loaded the washing machines with colors, since they were the majority. After putting in laundry detergent, he set it on the hottest water setting, and checked on Plagg to see if he was done with his cheese.

“Are you charged yet?” He asked, as Plagg flew out of his hoodie pocket. “Yeah, but why can’t I eat more cheese? I know you’re short on money, but would it really hurt to give me more?” “I have two more pieces, but I have to save that for later. Right now, I think someone followed me home. I need you to stay in my pocket. Don’t worry, I’ll take out the wallet. You’ll have more space.” Adrien took out the large wallet and hid it in the cupboard, just in case. Plagg sighed and retreated into his pocket, and Adrien took the keys out, and walked to the window, which was still open. He looked out and saw the same person, waiting outside of the door. _I forgot to buy trashbags, but it doesn't matter right now. It’s them. They did follow me. I need to find somewhere to transform. I can’t just walk up to them, there’s probably a weapon on them. I have only one option, and that’s to let them rob me, hide, then transform and follow them. It might work, plus they might have some money on them_. Then, an idea crossed his mind.

Adrien opened the cupboard where he’d hidden the wallet earlier and took out the remaining money out of it. With the remaining 160.67 euros, he put them in a glass and then put it back in the cupboard. With the now empty wallet, Adrien started taking napkins and stuffed them into the wallet, swelling it up to its previous size. For a more convincing weight, he put beer bottle caps which he’d thrown in the garbage, making the wallet heavier with the additional advantage of the wallet sounding like it had coins inside. “Sorry, Plagg, you’re gonna have to hide in my hood instead. I wouldn’t want the person to grab you if they try to pickpocket me.” Plagg grumbled and retreated to the folds of his hood, and Adrien put the wallet in his pocket.

Picking up his keys, he made his to the apartment door and unlocked it, and he went down the stairs, where took another deep breath and prepared himself for the worst. He unlocked the door and walked out, his senses alert. The person then grabbed Adrien’s arm, and Adrien saw it was a man in his late thirties, and held a knife to his back. Though he was calm, and knew what was coming, Adrien still expressed surprise and fear, and the man leaned in to whisper in his ear. “Make one sound and your body’s gonna end up in the river. Now, I want you to stay calm, and walk with me. If you cooperate, you’ll be spared. Got it?” Adrien nodded, and the man led him, walking at a brisk but natural pace.

The man had been leading him for about ten minutes when he led him to a more desolate part of town, specifically a small park which had nobody in sight. _This guy is stupid enough to have money on him, this will be fun._ He thought as the man led him to a stop right behind a tree. “Now, give me that wallet of yours and everything else.” “I don’t have anything on me.” Adrien said, keeping a cool tone. “I know you do, now give it to me or else I’ll slit your throat.” Pretending to be hesitant, Adrien didn’t move, and the man pressed the knife to his throat. Adrien then reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet and handed it to the man, who didn’t even bother to check what was inside. “Where’s the rest of it? Keys, phone, I said everything, so where is it?” He threatened, pressing the knife further against Adrien’s throat. “I don’t have my phone on me, I just left for a quick smoke!” he exclaimed, attempting sound fearful as possible. “Don’t lie to me, your pathetic life depends on it!” The man checked his hoodie and pants pockets, and only found the keys to his apartment, and the two pieces of cheese he had on him.

Baffled, the man exclaimed, “What are you? A rat or something? Damn it! Since you’ve cooperated so nic-” Adrien twisted the man’s wrist downward in a curved motion, keeping the knife from touching his neck, and pulled the man’s arm down, breaking his stance. He elbowed him in the face, breaking his nose, which sent him toppling downward. “What the fuck?” He yelled, clutching his bleeding nose, slowly standing up. “You know, you’re really stupid. If you wanted to take me to another location, you should’ve just kidnapped me and been done with it. Use a car, dumbass.” Adrien then ran up to him and right hooked him in the face, and he fell again. Adrien then pinned him and checked his pockets, finding his phone, wallet, a lighter, and a pack of cigarettes.

Adrien took the wallet and the lighter, leaving the phone and the cigarettes. He opened the wallet and took out all the euro bills and coins and but left the credit cards. Pocketing the money, he took the lighter and lit it for a few seconds. After it got hot enough to almost burn him, he pressed the lighter against the man’s palm. He screamed, and Adrien gagged him with his own wallet to silence him. Once more, he lit the lighter and burned every finger and palm until it was full of blisters. As a final mark, Adrien burned the back of his head. Adrien then ripped two pieces of the man’s shirt and blindfolded him, and then tied his hands behind his back. He then picked up his wallet full of trash and ran out of earshot to a large tree that provided good cover. He then transformed into Chat and picked up the man and hung him over his shoulder with his enhanced strength.

That was easy. Better go put him in a hospital somewhere. I hope he doesn’t fall off my back and die. He thought as he extended his staff to get to the nearest rooftop. He adjustied his grip on the man as he headed towards the nearest hospital, which he knew the route to. The extra weight made roof-jumping difficult, and he nearly dropped the man a few times.

When he found the hospital, he landed on its roof and placed the man down. He took off the blindfold and took the wallet out of his mouth, both now caked with blood due to his bleeding nose. He then untied the man, and the man wringed his hands as he looked at Chat with panicked eyes, “Chat Noir? Where am I? What’s up with your hair?” he said, looking around. “You were beat pretty bad. I couldn’t catch the perp that did this to you, so I gave you a free ride to the hospital. And as for my hair, I decided to make myself blend in better with the darkness. If you want, I can lower you down there to save trouble, I’ll just extend my staff and you can go down it like a flag pole.” Chat smiled ever so slightly, “Yeah, I’d like to get down from here, but my hands were burned.” Chat frowned and shrugged, untied the man, and then he was off the rooftop and heading home, despite the man’s protests.

 _He deserved the hand burning, serves him right for being a coward and ambushing instead of outright attacking. Time to get a bite to eat._ He stood on the rooftop of his apartment, and upon finding no one in sight, he jumped down and caught himself on the windowsill, pulling himself up into the now fresh-smelling apartment. He then checked the time, which was 12:04 am. He detransformed and handed Plagg one of the wrapped cheese. Plagg delightfully snatched the cheese up and ate it as Adrien made his way to kitchen where he looked for a kettle to boil water in. Once he found one, he filled it up with water and lit the stove, and as he waited for the water to boil, he sat down and counted his newly acquired cash.

He counted 60 euros in bills and 8.23 euros in coins. _Not a bad haul, but could’ve been better._ He then took out the wallet he’d filled with trash and dumped everything out into the trash can, and then putting his new haul inside. Placing the wallet on the small wooden table, Adrien turned off the stove and took the boiling kettle off it. He then unwrapped one of his instant ramen, taking out the flavor packet, the dried vegetable packet and the small plastic fork that came with it. He then opened and poured the vegetable and flavor packets inside the instant ramen cup, before pouring the boiling water to the level instructed on the cup. He waited for the ramen to cook, unwrapping the tiny plastic fork and stirring it. After eating, he took the air freshener and sprayed the whole apartment with it. He checked the washing machine cycle, which would be done in a few hours. Then he picked up the white clothes he'd left on the floor earlier and dropped them on the mattress. _I have to shower; I must smell awful._ After taking a somewhat long shower, he changed into a white shirt with the same sweatpants and turned off the lights to go watch tv.

He retreated to the room, where he sat down on the pile of clothes and looked for the tv remote. Once he found it, he switched the tv on and started watching a documentary about how lions lived in South Africa. _Wait. How am I supposed to pay the electricity bill? I need a job, and soon. For now, I’m better off living in the dark, I can't afford expensive electricity bills._ He switched off the tv, and switched off all the lights, regretting putting clothes into the washing machine. He lay down on the pile, preparing himself for the ensuing restlessness. _I need a hobby. I can’t just spend every night suffering._ He closed his eyes and focused on the sounds of the city, not allowing himself thought, but it was futile as he thought of his actions. _I burned that man’s hands. I robbed him. Not to mention I killed someone. What’s happening to me? Why did I burn him? Wasn’t robbing him enough? I did it for a good cause, they were both criminals. But does that give me the right to assault and murder them? Of course it does, you idiot. They’ve probably committed crimes. I let that one guy go though, so I’m still a good person. Right?_ Adrien tried to sleep, but he found it too difficult. _I’m sleeping for far too long, I have to occupy myself, but how? First I have to get a job, I’d apply to work for the night shift, that could work._ After a few hours of just planning out things, he fell asleep, his mind at peace, for the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long chapter. I'm still trying to figure out my writing style, so sorry if the writing is clunky at parts. I'm trying to be as realistic as possible, so this chapter is one of the more boring ones.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, the whole reason this fic exists is because I had a dream that Chat Noir robbed a McDonald's, so I grew a story around that. This is like, my first time actually writing fanfic, so forgive me if I make mistakes or anything like that.


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